Housing Recovery Lifts Home Depot Q2

The Home Depot has reported sales of $24.8 billion for its second quarter of fiscal 2015, ended August 2, a 4.3% increase from sales of $23.8 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014. Comparable store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 were up 4.2%, and comp sales for U.S. stores were up 5.7%.

Net earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 were $2.2 billion, or $1.73 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $2.1 billion, or $1.52 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2014. For the second quarter of fiscal 2015, diluted earnings per share increased 13.8% from the same period in the prior year.

Second quarter of fiscal 2015 results include a pretax net expense of $92 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, related to Home Depot’s 2014 data breach. This expense includes an accrual for estimated probable losses that the retailer expects to incur in connection with the claims made by payment card networks. Second quarter of fiscal 2015 results also reflect a pretax gain on sale of $144 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, related to the sale of the remaining portion of the company’s equity ownership in HD Supply Holdings, Inc. Adjusting for these two items, diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 were $1.71.

“We were pleased with this quarter’s results. We saw balanced growth across our business resulting from strength in the core of the store as well as the continued recovery of the U.S. housing market,” said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president, Home Depot.

At the end of the second quarter, Home Depot operated a total of 2,270 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.

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Editor-in-Chief Peter Giannetti previews this week’s 2020 Retail Champions edition, an adaptation of the long-running HomeWorld Business Retailer Of The Year issue. This special report details how six key retailers— Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, Home Depot and Kroger— are positioned to lead the post-COVID rebuild of what is expected to be a dramatically realigned retail landscape.
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